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AirPods are now available

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Re: AirPods are now available

#451

Post by MBCook »

monkmartinez wrote: post #437
MBCook wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple tends to be highly accurate on battery life measurements. If they 5 hours playing music I believe them. The problem with the MBP is its 10 hours of a 'light workload'. And it meets that. But a HEAVY workload may be 4 hours and they don't advertise that. I don't remember reviewers saying anything bad about battery life on the AirPods back in October.

Eh, you said it... YOU believe them. A lot of people here don't anymore. Let's wait to see what real world use looks like. I mean, if you take the emoji touch bar at face value it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. However, real world use indicates that it might not be as useful as Apple wants it to be.

I think you misunderstood me. What I said is that Apple's numbers are highly accurate FOR WHAT THEY TESTED.

The problem here is that Apple hasn't given numbers about what it's like under heavy load. Or really any load it all. If you stick to doing the kind of things Apple does in their battery life test you WILL get what they say.

Unfortunately as we seem to be finding out if you go outside of that you're screwed. Obviously harder workloads always hit the computer more, but this year the delta seems much much higher. They are cherry picking tests that make their battery life look reasonable.

I should also note that this is not the first time Apple did this. The quoted battery life on the iPhone 7 is basically the same as before, but they made a slight change to the wording. This year there tests are all with wireless headphones. This is likely because it's always been down that using the speaker on an iPhone to listen to music will lower your battery life pretty significantly, and now that the new iPhone 7 has a double speaker arrangement it's likely an even bigger effect than before.

Apples not lying like so many PC makers used to do, they're playing lawyer games and choosing their words incredibly carefully.

This is not a good turn. Apple giving real life accurate battery estimates used to be one of the things that put them above PC makers in my mind. If they're going to start redefining the workload to doing nothing on your computer... why bother?

Re: AirPods are now available

#452

Post by kevinstubbs »

eltoozero wrote: post #432
kevinstubbs wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peoples' ears are all different. Apple's earbuds aren't comfortable for me, but they're the first choice for many people that I know. I can easily believe that the AirPods will be so comfortable that some subset of the population will forget they're in.

There's no such thing as comfortable earbuds. You wear them, they ache until your ears adjust, then it's second nature. Assuming you wear them more than 10 minutes at a time. I can't be the only one who used those garbage earbuds included with the game boy for years afterwards.

Until looking just now, I thought headphones were either "earbuds" or the full headphones. Earbuds are the kind Apple sells, while "in-ear" headphones are the ones I find comfortable for hours at a time. The cheap kind I like now are Skullcandy's Ink'd 2 which have a silicone ear-tip. I think I just lucked out in getting an ear-tip that's finally the right size. If you haven't tried in-ear headphones yet, I definitely recommend trying some out - maybe you'll find a pair that works for you.

Re: AirPods are now available

#453

Post by intended »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #304

I find this headphone war discussion a bit boring. The AirPods are much more interesting as Apple's first foray into augmented reality. If they add positioning, this product becomes Magic Leap without the visuals. I don't think they see this as a music device, they see it as a new platform for audio. Interesting things start happening when people start leaving one or both in their ears all day. Arrival times in your…

I'm going to disagree with this "forget they are there" bit. I interact with my grandparents every day. One of them needs a hearing aid, which they will never wear.

These are light weight, designed for comfort.

I am sceptical

Re: AirPods are now available

#454

Post by apsdsm »

jen729w wrote: post #414
apsdsm wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they see this as a music device either. I think they see it as a way of making money from their decision to remove the audio jack from the phone. That said, you're spot on with your forecasts of how great this could be, the AR of audio is potentially awesome.

That's such a cynical, boring view. I'm sorry, but it is. You really think that Apple removed the headphone jack to make a bit more cash? Seriously? Hand-on-heart honestly, you think that's why? Come on. I think it's because they love cool new things. Thank f k they do because, frankly, nobody else seems to be doing anything interesting. I know, I know, they're not perfect. AirPods are late. They're expensive. I know…

> You really think that Apple removed the headphone jack to make a bit more cash? Seriously? Hand-on-heart honestly, you think that's why? Come on.

Yes.

And honestly, if you think a big company like Apple does anything without the motivation of making money, then frankly you're being starry-eyed and naive.

Maybe if they were a little start-up or something, sure, I could buy that argument. But yes, I entirely, whole-heartedly believe that Apple is doing this for money. If not, why not release the air pods first, then release a few generations of iPhones with audio jacks? It's not like having that little hole in the bottom of a phone would stop Apple from generating more "magical" technology.

I don't doubt Apple thinks that air pods are cool, but come on, seriously.

Re: AirPods are now available

#455

Post by intended »

enraged_camel wrote: post #431
rplst8 wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should be the top answer. The product is simply not ready - as evidenced by a two month delay.

Is the two month delay evidence that the product is not ready now, or is it evidence that it was not ready two months ago? (This is a rhetorical question. You don't have to answer, because the answer is self-evident.)

I wonder- if these things do enough processing, would they get hot?

Re: AirPods are now available

#456

Post by untog »

stouset wrote: post #423
untog wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this comes back to same problem most things do these days: battery life. You're going to need to return these to their case every few hours, so no one is going to wear them uninterrupted for a day.

That's five hours of continuous audio. OP is talking about a world where you leave them in all day and get periodic audio. Not everyone listens to music 24/7.

Do we know the battery drain relates to playing audio and not maintaining a bluetooth connection? The battery drain would certainly not be zero.

Re: AirPods are now available

#457

Post by SimpleMinds »

hobarrera wrote: post #425
MrQuincle wrote: post #154

They should have used the cigarette butt picture: https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-airpods/preview/ Regarding specs: + Bluetooth + No cables + 5 hours battery life + Charging case with total 24 hours battery life + Automatically turn off when removing from your ears + Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only) + Peripheral to…

> Key synchronization via iCloud (makes pairing process simpler - and could make sharing process simpler as well - but is Apple-only) So you can't actually use these on your [non macOS] laptop? Wow, requiring two pairs of headphones certainly is a huge dis-qualifier.

I think that's the W1 chip reference - when you have multiple devices signed to one iCloud (mac, iphone, ipad?) you pair with one of them once, then for other devices they are "just there", in list of available devices. You don't need to separately pair with each one. Tiny but useful. Other than that they are normal BT headphones (I believe)

Re: AirPods are now available

#458

Post by gergles »

askafriend wrote: post #367
rememberlenny wrote: post #4

Ships January 12th

That's because the December shipments sold out in minutes. Contrary to the pessimism in this thread, people really want these.

We have no way of knowing how much people wanted these. Apple could have released 50 of them or 50,000.

Re: AirPods are now available

#459

Post by brokenmachine »

neotek wrote: post #397
tribby wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is a false analogy. the CD drive was an improvement on the 3.5" floppy. the 3.5" floppy was an improvement on the 5" floppy. bluetooth is an improvement in form (no more wires), but a downgrade in function as the audio quality is diminished.

I hear people saying this a lot, but I'd be willing to bet that at least 90% of consumers would be incapable of telling the difference between Bluetooth and wired audio in a blind test. Also, given that the vast majority of earbuds people use are sub-$20, I bet the audio quality isn't that great to begin with.

Not everyone uses crap headphones.

Some people even use quality headphones, and also don't want another device to charge.

Re: AirPods are now available

#460

Post by sooheon »

pwthornton wrote: post #158
jjuhl wrote: post #5

To me these seem pretty stupid. Major features (to me) of ear-buds with wires and 3.5" jack are: 1) being attached with wires means I don't easily lose them when they slip out of my ear/hand/pocket. 2) the 3.5" jack actually keeps them pretty solidly attached to my phone (again, less risk of losing them). Walking around with two loose tiny objects seems less than ideal - at least to me; I'd lose them within days.

You've never used an entire product category and you want to call it stupid? The first step to building good products is to understand how people use them. Wireless headphones are about as stupid as wireless Internet. Just like wired Internet, wired headphones will continue to have a place for people who need certain capabilities or ruggedness or etc., but for most people, wireless headphones are the way to go. Let m…

I don't disagree with any of those points. But to me all of them are dwarfed by one thing: sound quality. Listening to the crap quality of apple buds is like connecting to a shitty CRT. Paying $160 for the privilege is just an added insult.

If you cared about watching beautiful movies, would you downgrade to a wireless display with grainy definition, because "no wires"? That's how I feel about audio quality, and why I'm not an apple or beats customer (and why I lament the iPhone7 headphone jack changes).

Of course time will help, and in a few years the sound quality streamed over wireless should be transparent, at which point I'd gladly convert.

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